Hoyer Statement on the Five Year Anniversary of the Financial Crisis

WASHINGTON, DC - House Democratic Whip Steny H. Hoyer (MD) released the following statement today on the five year anniversary of the financial crisis, which happened on this week in 2008:

“Five years ago, our nation faced the most dangerous financial crisis since the Great Depression when our financial and housing markets neared collapse as a result of unsavory practices by some of our county’s largest banks. Had it not been for emergency, bipartisan steps taken by the Congress and the Bush Administration, we might have witnessed economic catastrophe.

“Thanks to those emergency measures in September 2008, the comprehensive Dodd-Frank legislation to reform Wall Street practices passed by Congress in 2010, and additional steps taken over the past four and a half years by the Obama Administration, today our financial system is stronger and safer than it was before the crisis. However, the strength and stability of our economy must be judged not only on the vitality of Wall Street but on how well people are doing on Main Street. Congress must now focus on the recovery for our middle class, small businesses, and manufacturers by ending the uncertainty caused by the lack of clear fiscal policy. Providing greater certainty through the achievement of bipartisan compromise on a balanced approach to deficits and removing the threat of default by extending the debt limit would help our capital markets as well.”